Hacker responsible for Trump `gunfire´ tweet, BBC Northampton says

A BBC regional news outlet briefly provoked alarm by appearing to break a world exclusive about a gun attack on Donald Trump.

BBC Northampton claimed its Twitter account had been hacked after it unexpectedly announced: “Breaking News: President Trump is injured in arm by gunfire #Inauguration”.

It followed the historic swearing-in ceremony of the new US President in Washington DC which came against a backdrop of violent protests across the country.

Screengrab of the @BBCNorthampton Twitter page dated 21/01/17, as the BBC regional news outlet briefly provoked alarm by appearing to break a world exclusive about a gun attack on Donald Trump (BBC Northampton/Twitter/PA)

The apparent global scoop from the East Midlands broadcaster was met by a mixture of bafflement and disbelief from online users.

One asked: “Are you sure?”

Another said: “Guessing you’ve been hacked? Not seen this ANYWHERE else!”

After a short period of confusion, the tweet was deleted and a clarification was sent out.

It read: “Message from OurMine: we detected unusual activity on this account, the account was hacked by someone and we are trying to fix the issue now.”

Apologies to anyone who saw an unusual Tweet from our account this morning. We do appear to have been hacked and we are looking into how. MR